It seems this band arrived from another decade as their old school sound oozes vintage 70s rock with a blend of Stones meets the Allmans but with modern influences like Kings of Leon.  Currently selling out 400-seat venues in their hometown where they enjoy a cult following and already a regular on the fraternity circuit, ARC is the next breakout artist from the Southeast and is currently on tour behind their debut EP Atlas Road Crew produced by Mark Bryan of Hootie and the Blowfish.

Morning Eyes

Movin' On

Bottom of Love

Halfway to Hopkins is a sonic blast from start to finish, bringing swampy southern accents to fresh, contemporary tunes. The title refers to a small community outside Columbia where the band lived for several years after graduating from the nearby University of South Carolina.
“That house, which was halfway between Columbia and Hopkins on the southeast side of town, was where we really began to come together,” Says Drohan. “We knew then we wanted to become more than just another bar band.”

The result is an album that tackles the identity crisis of the average twenty-something on multiple levels in songs such as “Black Eye Sunrise,” which on the surface may be about a buzz gone wrong but also speaks to a life in transition. Slow-building dynamics, anthemic organ and ringing guitars support Taylor Nicholson's impassioned vocals; when he sings “Please don't forget me when I'm gone” there's little chance of the hook, or the band, leaving the listener's mind any time soon.

Voices

I Want You To Know

Black Eye Sunrise

Abilene

Sometimes

Sweet Imagination

Safety

Smoke And Mirrors

Off My Mind

My Own Way (Chasing Fire)

Lady Lights

You Make It Easy

Call For Me

Named for the road in front of their original practice space in Columbia, South Carolina, Atlas Road Crew now calls Charleston, South Carolina home; it's an appropriate base of operations for a group that has perfected a classic rock 'n' roll sound shot through with southern soul accents. On a foundation of Allman Brothers Band riffs and Black Crowes attitude mixed with Memphis blues, soul and the Rolling Stones, Atlas Road Crew has been building a fan base through constant touring—over 200 shows a year.

Atlas Road Crew, often abbreviated to “ARC”, started while students at the University of South Carolina; they like to say that they were friends first, then a band. Singer and guitarist Taylor Nicholson admits he was a vocal rookie when they began.

“The first time I sang in public was at a spring break open mike night in the Florida Keys,” Nicholson recalls. “We had driven down there on a whim and I ended up at this beach bar singing Citizen Cope songs, it was just a crazy night.”

Nicholson has developed into a swaggering powerhouse of a vocalist with plenty of natural soul; the band has grown up as well, into a road-tested example of the resurgence of classic southern rock and soul.
Atlas Road Crew can jam and they like to stretch things out in their live shows when the groove is right, but they are focused on perfecting the four-minute radio-ready pop and rock hit whether that means a slow burning, soulful ballad or a get-up-and-dance groove.
“We've improved our songwriting over the different recording sessions the band has done and developed the ability to boil the songs down into their essence,” Says bassist Max Becker. “We're more interested in writing a great song first, then we'll take it on the road and mess with it live.”

The band likes to refer to themselves not as southern rock but “Southeastern Rock,” an appropriate designation since their popularity in college towns across the country began in the Carolinas and Georgia and spread to the deep south and up the East Coast before going nationwide; they have a sound that transcends region by traversing diverse styles. The result is something that's familiar yet new, the kind of twangy, swampy southern rock 'n' soul that one might expect to come out of a Muscle Shoals session in the 1970's but it's as immediate and fresh as anything on the contemporary scene.

Atlas Road Crew

Popular tracks